Death toll in migrant shipwreck off Egypt reaches 300

CAIRO, Sept. 23 (UPI) — The death toll from a shipwreck off the Egyptian coast on Wednesday keeps climbing, officials said Friday — and will likely make 2016 the deadliest year ever for migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

Egyptian officials announced the death toll is around 300, with another 150 unaccounted for. About 160 survived, the International Organisation for Migration said.

The increased death toll means more than 3,500 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far this year — on pace for a new record. Last year at this time, only about 2,900 migrants had died in those waters and 3,771 had perished by the end of the year.

The shipwreck occurred Wednesday off the coast of Rashid City, and many of those who drowned were children between the ages of 10 and 13, officials previously said.

The catastrophe highlights the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe, where citizens of war-torn nations are taking great risks to relocate to a safer country. Many of the migrants were from Syria, Yemen and Africa.